Apparatus for making paper tubes.



Patented Ian. 29, 190i.

J. H. &. E. L. WHITE. APPARATUS FDR-MAKING PAPER TUBES.

(Application med Dec. 22, 1899.) I (No Model.) 3Sheet s-Shaei l.

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Patented Jan. 29, l90l.

Y J. H. 81. E. L. WHITE. APPARATUS FOR MAKING PAPER TUBES.

(Application filed IlIlecv 22, 1899.)

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Patented Jan. 29, I901. J. H. &..E. L. WHITE.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING PAPER TUBES.

(Application filed Dec. 22, 1899.]

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(No' Mo Ll/ 'mmm llllllllllllll .7 l lllllll NITED STATES ATENT CFFIQ'E.

JOHN HOWARD WHITE AND EDWARD LOWRY WHITE, OF WASHINGTO 1 T, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING PAPER TUBES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 666,722, dated January 29, 1901.

Original application filed April 28, 1899, Serial No. 714,892. Divided and this application filed December 22, 1899. Serial No. 741,314. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN HOWARD WHITE and EDWARD LOWRY WHITE, citizens of the United States, residing at No. 2111 Bancroft Place northwest,W-ashington city, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Making Paper Tubes, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to the manufacture of paper tubes of various forms and sizes and adapted to various uses by improved apparatus. Heretofore, so far as our knowledge extends, such tubes have been made by wrapping paper strips longitudinally or spirally around a mandrel, so that one ply or fold overlaps another, and cementing the seam or overlapping edge of the strip during the process of forming. It is also common to waterproof or otherwise coat such tubes.

The objects of ourinvention are so to man ufacture a paper tube that it will retain its form permanently without the use of cement, thus enabling us to dispense with cementing or gluing when desired; also, to facilitate the formation of the tube and secure its stifiuess A or rigidity when requisite.

To these ends our invention consists in certain new and useful improvements in apparatus for making the tube.

The subject-matter claimed is hereinafter set forth.

In order to carry out our invention in the best way now known to us, we take a paper strip or ribbon of proper width and thickness and preferably fold one edge or side of it, about one-third of the width of the strip, over upon the body of the strip and press it so as to lie close thereto and then fold the strip into tubular form, preferably in such Wise that the internal bore or area of the tube is formed by the abutting edges of the portion of the strip first folded, while the opposite side or edge of the strip is wrapped around the other portion so as to lie closethereto it retains the form given to it Without the use of cement. This heating and compressing we call ironing. For many purposes the tube thus manufactured is sufficiently stiff;

We have not shown herein any means for cementing the tube, so as to cause its edges to adhere; but our invention is not of course limited to the manufacture of an uncemented tube, as it is obvious that the operation would not be interfered with if cement were applied to the overlapping portions of the tube during its manufacture; but, as before stated, for many purposes the use of cement is unnecessary. Waterproofing material, such as paraffin, may be applied to the tube during its manufacture, if desired. We have devised cheap, simple, and effective apparatus for doing this work automatically. This apparatus, the construction of which may be varied in several ways which would readily suggest 7o It then passes through a by applying the necessary material while still hot. The tubes may be cut into lengths suitable for the purpose desired in the usual ways.

The accompanying drawings show so much of one form of an improved apparatus for carrying out the objects of our invention as is necessary to illustrate the subject-matter claimed. Unless otherwise specified the different parts of the apparatus, broadly considered, are of usual well-known construc- 0 tion, our improved apparatus consisting of novel combinations and organizations of instrumentalities hereinafter specified.

The feed end is herein called the front of the machine and the discharge end the rear.

Figure 1 is a plan or top View of the apparatus, and Fig. 2 a side elevation thereof. Figs. 3 to 11, both inclusive, show detail views of the apparatus on an enlarged scale. 10o

Fig. 3 shows a front elevation of the mechanism which forms the first fold of the paper strip. Fig. 4 shows the details of the devices for supporting and adjusting the wrap- 'ping mechanism which forms the overlapping fold of the formed tube. Fig. 5 shows a longitudinal central section through the ironer, which gives a permanent set to the tube. This figure also shows a waterproofing device. Fig. 6 shows in perspective the folding-guide and its support. Figs. 7 to 10, both inclusive, represent cross-sections of this guide on the correspondingly-marked lines on Fig. 6, showing its details of construction, the dotted lines showing the varying form imparted to the paper strip in traversing the guide. Fig. 11 shows a modified construction of the guide which forms the first fold of the strip, being a substitute for some of the guides and rollers shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 12, Sheet 2, shows the varying forms imparted to the strip as it traverses the guides, the different forms being marked correspondingly with the devices shown in Fig. 2, which produce the configuration shown.

The drawings show the mechanisms mounted on asuitable bed-plate or frame A. A paper strip of suitable width and texture passes from a reel or spool B through the longitudinally-slotted arms (1 of a guide D, the slots being slightly curved (see Fig. 12) to accommodate the bending of the strip by the first folding guides or rollers E F, one of which has a V-shaped convex edge or periphcry 6 and the other a correspondingly-shaped concave rim into which the first one fits. The concave roller F preferably turns on a fixed axis, while the convex one, E, turns on a pivot carried by a slide f, free to move relatively to the fixed roller, being normally drawn thereto by a springf thus pressing the paper strip as it passes between them into the elbow or trough shape shown at w, Fig. 12. The strip then passes between the compressing-rolls G H, one of which is provided with an annular square-shouldered groove 9, while the other carries a correspondinglyshaped annular rib or flange 71. One of these rolls, preferably the upper one, is mounted in sliding spring-pressed bearings, Figs. 2 and 3, so that a yielding pressure is applied to, the paper strip passing between the rolls, which action folds one side of the strip equal to about one-third of its entire width down upon the body of the strip, as shown at 00, Fig. 12. From these rolls the paper strip thus folded traverses a mandrel I, mounted on a bracket J and extending toward the dis charge end of the machine, and then passes through a coiled or snail-shaped folding or wrapping guide K, preferably of the form shown in the drawings. The axes of the mandrel and guide coincide. This guide is mounted in a hanger L, pin-jointed at Z to a laterally-adjustable slide Z held in its adjusted position by a thumb-screw Z (See Figs. 4 and 6.) The slide works in a guideplate I, having a vertical screw rod or stem l extending through a bushing Z in a laterally-projecting arm of a bracket M. This screw-rod Z is preferably made polygonal where it passes through the bushing and is provided with a clamp nut m. The guideplate may be vertically adjusted by means of a nut m on the screw rod or stem. We are thus enabled to adjust the wrapping-guide accurately in all necessary directions.

The construction and operation of the guide K are clearly shown in Figs. 6 to 10, both inclusive, The partially-folded and bent paper strip enters the larger end of the guide, as shown in Fig. 7, the lapped or turned-down edge being folded around its inner edge,while the other edge extends up along the inside of the outer side of the same. As the strip traverses the guide it is turned into a tubular spiral form, with its single outer side or edge overlapping its double portion; but the tube is not completely closed, that closure being done later on by the ironer. The coiled folded paper strip passes from the wrappingguide K through what we call an ironer, shown as consisting of a metal block 0, having a longitudinal central bore 0, coinciding with the axis of the mandrel I, which extends through it. The greater part of the bore is of uniform diameter; but its entrance or feed end 0 is made bell-mouthed orflared in such manner as to receive the partially-formed tube and guide it into the bore proper without breaking or crushing the paper. Both the wrapping-guideK and ironer 0 maybe heated in the usual ways, preferably by Bunsen burners. The drawings show separate burners R S under the guide and ironer supplied with either liquid or gaseous fuel from a suitable reservoir by means of pipes r 3, provided with suitable stop cocks or valves r 3. e are then enabled to secure any desirable degree of heat and to regulate it properly,which is advantageous, as we find it useful to use a higher degree of heat than usual in machines which merely employ heat to dry the cement employed in pasting the tube. The degree of heat employed may vary from 200 to 500 Fahrenheit and even higher, depending upon the quality and thickness of the paper and the speed with which it is passed through the mold. The heat is sufficient to soften the sizing of the paper, thus rendering it temporarily flexible, pliable, and non-elastic and enabling it to be, as it were, molded as it passes through the ironer. After the paper tube has left the ironerit cools, the sizing resets, and the tubing is given a permanent form. We find this heating of the paper reduces to a minimum the friction in passing through the machine by counteracting the resiliency or tendency of the paper to resume its original shape, while at the same time the ironer imparts a permanent set to the thenformed tube as it passes therethrough. As before remarked, the mandrel I extends centrally through the bore of the ironer, there ITO being just sufficient space between the'two to allow the paper strip or formed tube to pass in a compressed condition, the heat applied in the ironer giving a permanent set to the tube. Apaper tube may thus be formed with a longitudinal seam held permanently closed by the elasticity, resilience, or set thus given to the folded strip wiihout the use of cement, glue, or paste. We find such tubes useful for many purposes in the arts-such as match-splints, for instance; but the seam may be pasted in the usual ways, if desired, during its formation or afterward. \Vhile we have not shown any means forpasting the seam, our invention is of course not limited to an unpasted seam.

While we prefer to simultaneously heat and compress the tube in order to give it its final form, the compression may be omitted, as the heat to which the tube is subjected is suflicient to alone impart to it a permanent form or set.

It is frequently desirable to waterproof or coat paper tubes. \Ve attain this end in an improved way by means shown in the accompanying drawings. A recess P in the discharge end of the ironer O is shown as closed by a screw-plug P", through which the central bore 0 extends. (See Fig. 5.) A coatingchamber P preferably of hour-glass shape in cross-section, as shown, is formed, preferably, by beveling the inner walls of the recess P and screw-plug P. A pipe 19 connects this coating-chamber with a reservoir P containing suitable waterproofing material, such as paraflin, kept in a properly fluid condition by a suitable heater P -such, for instance, as a Bunsen burner. The central portions of the ironer and screw-plug around the base are made square or flat, while the coatingchamber flares outwardly from this central part. The waterproofing or coating material flows to the paper through the annular central neck or passage thus formed between the ironer and screw-plug, and as this neck may be entirely closed or opened to any desired extent by the screw-plug the supply may be perfectly regulated. We are thus enabled to apply the waterproofing or coating material to the heated paper tubes, which we deem advantageous, as the hot paper absorbs the waterproofing material more readily and with greater uniformity than unheated paper would do.

The finished continuous tube which issues from the apparatus may be severed into suitable lengths by cutters of wellvknown construction.

The form of the finished tube made by the above-described apparatus is shown in perspective in Fig. 12 and in cross-section at z in that figure. From that figure it will be seen that the side or edge of the paper strip which forms the inner wall of the finished tube is double for about one-third of the width of the strip and that this doubled or folded-over portion constitutes the circumference of the bore or inner wall of the finished tube, with the inner edge of the strip abutting against the doubled portion, and that the outer coil or layer of the tube overlaps or encircles this doubled portion. We find that this construction not only facilitates the formation of the tube, but produces a stronger, stiffer, and better article than can be obtained by the ordinary Way of overlapping or wrapping single strips.

O'ur improved form of tube may be made by apparatus differing from that above described. For instance, Fig. 11 shows a device which may be substituted for the bending-rollers E F and other parts intimately connected therewith. This figure shows in dotted lines the paper strip traversing fixed guides. A base-plate X supports brackets 03 00, provided with suitably-shaped guideslots connected by a properly-curved sheet metal guide X, by which one side or edge of the paper strip is bent or folded over upon the other, as above described, in proper shape to enter the rolls G H and traverse the mandrel, guide K, 850.

We have hereinbefore described tubes circular in cross-section only. Our apparatus, however, is readily adaptable to the manufacture of tubes of other shapes and of larger diameter suitable for various purposes which will readily occur to one reading this specification. While we prefer to apply the coating material by means of a chamber formed at one end of the ironer, the coating material may of course, with perhaps inferior results, be applied by an apparatus contiguous to the discharge end of the ironer or at any time subsequently.

We do not herein claim the tubeitself, as claims thereto constitute the subject-matter of another application, Serial No. 714,893, filed by us April 28, 1899; neither do we claim herein the art of making the tube, as that also constitutes the subject-matter of our application, Serial No. 714,892, filed April 28, 1899, of which this is a division.

In our Patent No. 652,868, of July 3, 1900, (the application for which is a division of our application No. 714,892, filed April 28, 1899,) we have made claims to certain subject-matter herein shown and described. Some of the claims in said patent involve the use of a mandrel in connection with the hollow matrix, while some of the claims forming part of this specification are not limited to the use of a mandrel. Some of the claims of said patent also involve the use of means for coating the tube after it is formed, while another relates to heating the tube before it enters the ironer, and other claims relate to particular means for folding the paper strip.

What We claim herein as new and as of our own joint invention is-- 1. The combination, substantially as hereinbefore set forth, of means for folding one edge of a paper strip upon the body of the strip, means for pressing the folded edge upon inbefore set forth, of means for forming a tube from a paper strip, and an ironer which beats and presses the tube, softens the sizz 5 ing and molds the tube into its final form.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names.

JOHN HOWARD WHITE. EDWARD LOWRY WHITE.

Witnesses:

H. H. FLA'IHER, EDWIN D. FLATHER. 

